Daniel bar Jamin
The protagonist of the novel, Daniel is an 18-year-old Galilean living in Palestine under Roman rule. He grew up in the village of Ketzah, outside the city of Capernaum. When Daniel was eight, his father…
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Leah
Leah is Daniel’s younger sister. In the story, she is 15 years old, a graceful girl with long blond hair. (In appearance, she takes after their mother, who was half Greek.) However, she is…
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Jesus
Jesus is a carpenter’s son and traveling preacher from the Galilean town of Nazareth. Daniel first hears Jesus speak when Simon takes him to the Ketzah synagogue where Jesus is a guest. While there’s nothing…
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Joel bar Hezron
Joel is Daniel’s former classmate at the synagogue school in Ketzah. He becomes Daniel’s first and closest friend. Malthace is his twin sister. Their father, Hezron, is a wealthy, scholarly rabbi. When Joel…
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Malthace (Thacia)
Malthace is Joel bar Hezron’s twin sister. She is called Thace or Thacia for short. Thacia is a spirited, loyal, kindhearted girl with a gift for seeing the potential in others; she even becomes…
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Rosh
Rosh is a Galilean Jewish freedom fighter who has dedicated his life to resisting the Roman occupation. He lives with his band of rebels in a mountain cave overlooking Ketzah. After Daniel ran away from…
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Samson
Samson is an enslaved man whom Rosh’s group steals from a passing caravan. Daniel is placed in charge of him. Samson doesn’t appear to understand Daniel’s language, but after Daniel removes Samson’s chains, Samson…
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Grandmother
Besides Leah, their grandmother is Daniel’s only living relative. After Daniel and Leah were orphaned, their grandmother cared for them. When she could no longer afford to feed the three of them, she…
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Simon the Zealot
Simon, like Daniel, was once Amalek’s apprentice. Since then, he’s opened his own blacksmith shop. After Simon encounters Jesus and decides to follow him, he closes his shop, and after Daniel’s grandmother dies…
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Rabbi Hezron
Rabbi Hezron is Joel’s and Malthace’s father. He is a Pharisee, a devout Jew and religious scholar who is scrupulously observant of traditional priestly laws as well as the biblical Law.Hezron forbids Joel…
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Marcus
Marcus is a blond Roman soldier who often visits Daniel’s blacksmith shop, to Daniel’s chagrin. Unbeknownst to Daniel, Marcus has befriended Leah and visits her when Daniel isn’t home. Marcus is from a German…
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Minor Characters
Amalek
Amalek is the blacksmith to whom Daniel was apprenticed as a boy. He had a reputation for abusing his apprentices, and Daniel ran away from him.
Nathan
Nathan, a young man from Ketzah, is Daniel’s first recruit to his and Joel’s band of fighters. Nathan is the son of a tax collector who is ashamed of his father’s maligned occupation. Nathan gets killed in the raid to rescue Joel, leaving a young widow behind.
Kemuel
Joel brings Kemuel to Ketzah as a recruit for their rebel group. He’s a wealthy young man from Capernaum who’s spirited and serious about fighting the Romans.
Simon bar Jonas
Simon is a fisherman and disciple of Jesus. Jesus stays in Simon’s house in the fishing village of Bethsaida, near Capernaum.
Jairus
Jairus is a synagogue ruler whose little girl is restored from death to life by Jesus.
Joktan
Joktan is a skinny, stuttering 12-year-old in Rosh’s band. After Daniel breaks ties with Rosh, Joktan joins Daniel’s group and later lives with Daniel, running errands for him.
Ebol
Ebol is one of Rosh’s sentries.
